Chapter 61
Clutching the baby desperately, Deb ran with all she had left, which admittedly wasn’t all that much.
A loud shot rang out as a bullet struck the ground beside her.
Deb nearly panicked and fell over in her desperate flight.
Instead, she was able to right herself and continue trying to create as much distance as possible.
Jessie was in hot pursuit. Deb could hear her running after them, and another bullet slamming into the dirt on their right let her know that the danger was just right behind them.
For a moment, Deb found it odd that the bullets were striking the ground.
That was when she realized that Jessie was playing cat and mouse with them.
She was hunting them for sport. She could have finished Deb off ten times over by this point, and the only thing keeping this encounter going was the amount of entertainment it brought to her pursuer.
Another shot burst onto the ground just behind her.
Deb could feel the pushed-up dirt on her heels, and this time she did trip over herself in a blind panic.
She fell onto her side, careful not to crush Jimmy in the fall.
The baby was panicked now, clutching at her and crying, his face red and horrified as Deb scooted back in the dirt against the wooden fence of the horse grazing area.
Deb looked up in horror to see Jessie looming over them, a wicked smile on her face.
“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it,” she said, loading another round into her hunting rifle.
“You’re sick,” Deb spat back at her.
“Oh?” Jessie asked, an eyebrow raised in interest. “By whose standards? Yours? People like you? The educated and pampered? Do you all get to decide whose normal anymore? I don’t think so. Look around, kitten. This ain’t your world anymore.”
“It’s not yours, either,” Deb said, trying to keep her body angled so as to not give Jessie a clear shot at the baby.
“You think that just because there’s no power that everyone is gonna suddenly be as ugly inside as you?
That’s not how this works. You’re just letting everyone see the real you, and most people are going to be as sickened by it as I am. ”
Jessie shouldered the rifle suddenly, and Deb winced in terror as she fully believed that her life was about to end.
“No power, you say?” Jessie said, laughing.
“There may be no electricity, but there seems to be plenty of power up for grabs. Like this here, the power of life or death. It’s mine, darlin’.
And there ain’t a thing you can do about it.
You think I care what people think of me?
You think that matters to me when I have this kinda power? ”
“Yeah, I do,” Deb said back, her voice falling in sadness as she looked at Jessie for the first time, not with malice, but with pity.
Her father would have seen the sadness in Jessie, the longing for acceptance that turned to anger. Deb hadn’t been looking beyond her actions up to this point, but now she felt more open to such things and began to see this nemesis in an entirely different light.
“Well, that shows that you know absolutely nothing,” Deb said, taking aim once more. “I wonder if I can get you and the rugrat in one shot. Should we find out?”
“I’m sorry,” Deb said, wincing as she waited for the inevitable moment of execution.
“What?” Jessie asked, clearly confused. There was no way she could have expected that reaction from a soon-to-be victim.
“I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through,” Deb said. “I have no idea what it all was, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy. I’m sorry you had to go through it. It isn’t fair.”
“The fuck are you trying to do?” Jessie asked, gesturing forcefully with the gun. “Trying to get me to spare you? Not gonna happen, sweetheart.”
“No,” Deb said, shaking her head sadly. “It’s just…something I wanted you to hear.”
Jessie’s face contorted in rage. She rushed forward and slammed the butt of her rifle into Deb’s shoulder, sending her back flying into the old wooden fence.
Jessie kicked Deb hard in that same shoulder, forcing her to loosen her grip on Jimmy.
Jessie then reached down, grabbing Jimmy by the back of the shirt and tearing him away.
Deb screamed in horror as Jessie casually tossed the screaming child to the ground and pointed her gun at him.
“Think I’m still someone to be pitied now, bitch?” she screamed in rage, her face reddening with anger. “Will you still apologize to me after I make you watch your crotch spawn die?”
“Please, don’t!” Deb pleaded, rising up on her knees, hands clasped together as she begged. “Please, I know you don’t wanna do that. He’s a baby. He’s innocent! He has nothing to do with this!”
Jessie planted her boot on top of Jimmy to stop him from moving. He squirmed and cried as the vicious woman weighed her options. Deb could feel her heart beating all through her body. Every muscle tightened as he stared desperately at this horrifying scene.
She had tried kindness and compassion. But she realized in that moment that while she had come to see the value in her father’s beliefs, they couldn’t always ring true. Extremes were the enemy here, and sometimes compassion was needed, while other times, more forceful solutions had to be employed.
There was no black and white in this world. It was all gray. Deb could see that now, and while she still pitied this horrible woman for whatever had happened in her tragic life, she wasn’t going to stop her with kindness.
“Dammit, Jessie,” Deb said, starting to slowly rise to her feet.
“Look at you. Picking on someone defenseless. Isn’t that exactly what you claim the world did to you?
Are you really going to take your frustrations out on a baby?
Settle this with me! I’m the one you have the problem with! Me! Not him!”
Jessie seemed to ponder this for a second, looking from Jimmy to Deb and back again. “Fine,” she said before rushing over and jabbing the butt of the gun hard into Deb’s chest.
Deb fell back into the wooden fence, which had stood on the ranch since before even her father had been born. Because of its advanced age, the wood immediately gave way as soon as she fell back into it, and Deb crashed into the horse grazing area and rolled as she hit the ground.
“You want it that bad?” Jessie said, stalking inside after Deb and taking aim at her.
“You got it, bitch. You know what? Maybe I won’t kill your spawn.
Maybe when you’re dead and gone, I’ll try my hand at being a mom.
And I’ll raise him the right way. In a way, you never could. And he’ll love me for it!”
Deb scooted back farther into the pen, looking behind her to see several older well-trained horses looking over in her direction. As Jessie started to take aim, Deb had an idea. She curled her tongue and let out a long sharp whistle.
The horses responded instantly, having worked with their owner and trainer for decades now. Three of the older mares galloped toward them, and Jessie looked up in alarm as they approached.
She raised the rifle, taking her attention away from Deb.
As she aimed at one of her beautiful animals, Deb jumped to her feet, pushing the barrel of the gun toward the sky as Jessie fired.
The loud bang spooked the lead mare, a beautiful white horse that had been pulled into this world by Jessie’s father twenty years ago.
His name was Beauty, and Deb had always believed he had lived up to his name.
Beauty reared up on his hind legs, and Deb dove off to the side. Jessie desperately tried to load another round, but the spooked horse lashed out with his front legs, striking Jessie hard across the face.
She flew back with a snap and a crack, slamming into the grass like a sack of crap. She twitched once and then stopped moving.
Deb instantly stood in front of Beauty, holding up her hands and calling out to him.
“Hold!” she cried out, and the horse slowly calmed down.
Deb smiled at Beauty and reached up to rub his muzzle.
She looked over at Jessie, taking a few steps toward her prone form and prodding her with the toe of her boot. She wasn’t moving.
Deb breathed a sigh of relief, grabbing the hunting rifle off the ground and tossing it away as though it were made of fire.
She ran for the hole in the fence where Jimmy still lay crying on the ground.
She scooped him up into her arms and looked around.
She rocked the baby as her eyes settled onto Legion’s still form.
Deb closed her eyes sadly and said a quick prayer for his loss.
Then, weakness started to overwhelm her, and she sank to the ground, grateful just to be alive.